Celebrating 35 Years of Volleyball

September 2008 cover of Volleyball magazine

Where were you in December of 1976? Some of you were probably playing, others of you were probably coaching, and some of you (myself included) weren’t born just yet. But December of 1976 is when Volleyball magazine came into the world, and although this publication has taken many different twists and turns, changed names, and even been through a merger, we are still here 35 years later to bring you all things volley.

For the 30th anniversary of the magazine the staff ran an in-depth and extremely informative look back on the complete history of VBM. For this commemorative issue, we decided to take a different route. We sent out ballots to a comprehensive panel of current and former players and coaches, industry executives, media members and VBM readers. After combining all the ballots and tallying the results, we came up with a list of the 35 greatest U.S. volleyball players of all time.

We were intrigued—though not all that surprised—to see two sets of partners emerge at the top of the list. Do you need to flip to the story to know who I am talking it? It’s Karch and Sinjin and Misty and Kerri. Not only have these two teams made an indelible impact on the sport, but through their play they have propelled volleyball into the mainstream and paved the way for current and future stars to increase awareness of the sport even further. And perhaps the best part about these two pairs is that their impact is not nearly complete, with Karch and Sinjin sharing their greatness in coaching and leadership roles, and Kerri and Misty moving towards yet another Olympics.

We can only hope that the sport of volleyball will continue to move in this positive direction, gaining even more players and recognition worldwide. And if the 35 people on our list have anything to do with it, we have full confidence that the sport is in good hands.